The present invention relates to apparatus for communicating data over a telephone line; and more particularly, it relates to apparatus employing a communication protocol involving both higher-speed, half-duplex and lower-speed, full-duplex operation based upon data flow demands.
Communication of data over a telephone line is accomplished by devices that transform a typical two-level digital computer signal into a form suitable for transmission over the telephone network. For example, the two-level signal is converted into a two-frequency sequence of signals. The conversion involves modulation at the transmitting end of the line and demodulation at the receiving end of the line. Devices providing these modulation/demodulation functions are referred to by the acronym "modem".
A modem is typically inserted between a data terminal and the telephone line. A modem is, therefore, a two-port device having a first interface to the data terminal and a second interface to the telephone line. Control of the modulator/demodulator functions can be by a control circuit on either side of the interface to the data terminal. Control codes for modem operation may be provided from the data terminal to a control circuit via the interface. Typically, the control codes will be embedded in the serial data stream from the data terminal. A control circuit coupled to the interface receives the control commands and acts based upon them to generate control signals for the modulation/demodulation functions. Alternatively, the data terminal may generate the control signals for the modulation/demodulation functions.
In order to send digital data between transmitting and receiving locations, a carrier signal is modulated based upon the data values to develop a transmit signal. Telephone lines have a limited bandwidth for signal transmission. The term "bandwidth" refers to the range of transmit signal frequencies which can be passed without significant attenuation. The range of frequencies of a transmit signal, and thus the amount of bandwidth of the telephone line occupied, is dependent upon the baud rate at which data is being sent. As the speed of data transmission increases, the amount of available bandwidth occupied also increases.
Typically, data transmission rates over telephone lines will be 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 7200 or 9600 bits per second ("bps"). At the fastest speed of 9600 bps, essentially the entire bandwidth is occupied by the transmit signal frequencies. For two way communication between data terminals, half-duplex operation is typically used. This involves each modem alternately placing its transmit signal on the line. At the slower speeds, less of the total available bandwidth is occupied. The total available bandwidth can be separated into upper and lower frequency bandwidths. By selecting separate carrier frequencies, the transmit signals will occupy separate bandwidths. This allows both transmit signals to be placed on the line at the same time for two way communication. Such communication is referred to as full-duplex operation.
The required communication speed is generally dictated by the data transmission demands of a particular application. For the transfer of files of data between data terminals, high speed data transmission is demanded to reduce the required time the telephone line is in use. For interactive communication between data terminals, full-duplex operation is desired. In some circumstances, there is the desire to both send data files and to have interactive communication. In such circumstances, the call connection often must be terminated and reestablished in order to change between operation protocols. Alternatively, time-consuming command exchanges must be made to reverse the communication roles or "turn the line around."
There is a need for higher-speed data transmission over dial-up telephone lines while retaining a full-duplex appearance at the data terminal interface. Further, there is a desire for error control along with maximum thruput and minimum echo character delay. However, economic considerations also are of concern.
Full-duplex, 9600 bps communication can be achieved using echo cancellation per V.32 standard. This solution is expensive because of the complex apparatus involved. Other approaches include fast poll, half-duplex operation using a single channel multiplexer in accordance with the V.29 standard. This operation involves line turn-around to get a minimum echo delay but does not achieve maximum thruput with error control. Alternatively, slow poll, half-duplex operation can be used but minimum echo character delay is not achieved.
The present invention economically provides the desired higher-speed data transmission and satisfies the full-duplex appearance, error control and minimum echo character delay requirements.